Sixty-eight alleged California white supremacists have been charged with drug trafficking, weapons violations and COVID-19 loan fraud, according to a federal indictment.
The members of the San Fernando Valley Peckerwoods, a California-based white supremacist street gang, were hit with a 76-count federal grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday, dealing their years-long criminal enterprise a “decisive blow,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.
Garland claimed the club is responsible for “trafficking deadly fentanyl and other drugs, committing robberies and perpetrating financial fraud to fund both their criminal enterprise and that of the Aryan Brotherhood.”
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Gang members allegedly made a killing through identity-theft schemes and financial fraud, including bogus applications for Paycheck Protection Program funds — meant to assist small businesses impacted by the pandemic — for people that were locked up.
Their criminal activities track back to at least December 2016, according to the indictment.
Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement officers seized illegal firearms and dozens of pounds of fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin, the court filing details.
The Peckerwoods at times take orders from the Aryan Brotherhood, California’s main prison-based white supremacist gang, and also has an alliance with the Mexican Mafia prison gang, which controls most Latino street gangs in the Golden State, the indictment charges.
They used social media to share information and target people who violated the group’s rules.
If convicted, the defendants could serve up to life in prison.
